


wake up and smell the coffee

by solicitors



Series: coffee au [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Barista Hinata Shouyou, Fluff, M/M, so fucking indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 10:27:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20833937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solicitors/pseuds/solicitors
Summary: Hinata hates the smell of coffee. He hates coffee in general. He doesn’t get the craze about it, really. It tastes like tar to him, especially the black kind, and it makes him feel weird and jumpy inside. Hinata, as it is, works in a coffee shop.





	wake up and smell the coffee

**Author's Note:**

> title is 'come out and play' by billie eilish. the song has nothing to do with the story except coffee lol  
okay so. this is a monster. i just love coffee... and i love hinata... and i love kagehina. and this is probably the most indulgent thing ive ever written. i just love me some lovesick babies!!!  
also, im sorry for the mistakes. i spell checked it like three times and midway through the fourth i was sick of rereading it lol asdkjalkfalskd sorry!!! ENJOY <333

Coffee reminds Hinata of chocolate. Not before. But now, it reminds Hinata of dark chocolate. Bitter, in the best way possible. Still sweet, sweet enough to notice if you’re looking. And it’s not so gross anymore. It’s an acquired taste, sure. But maybe it’s an acquired taste Hinata was looking for.

Many things remind Hinata of coffee, now. He hadn’t liked bitter before, but something had changed. Maybe he, himself changed.

Hinata hates the smell of coffee. He hates coffee in general. He doesn’t get the craze about it, really. It tastes like tar to him, especially the black kind, and it makes him feel weird and jumpy inside. He keeps a list on his phone (next to potential baby names and his favorite foods—mutually exclusive) of reasons he hates coffee, just in case anyone asks. He has seven reasons so far.

Hinata, as it is, works in a coffee shop. Kohi Coffee House, to be specific. It’s a cute, rundown place a few blocks from his university, and all of his friends love it. Largely because he gives them his employee discount, even though he’s not supposed to.

He only works there because his mom’s, boss’s, elderly mother needed help running the place, especially during the school season when students need coffee the most. While it wasn’t the best job in the world, it paid decent, and he was able to get by. He works afternoons, mostly since he has early morning classes. He sometimes comes for the opening shift when his class is cancelled or he forgot to study for a test, but it’s rare enough where he doesn’t see any of the morning regulars often enough to remember their names.

1) It’s too hot

Coffee is too hot for his tongue. It’s like a hot day, when it’s supposed to feel nice, but all you feel is groggy and gross. Coffee is groggy and gross to him, then. Maybe it’s like a hot day, and the asphalt is too hot to touch, but you have to burn your feet anyway to get to your car. That’s what coffee feels like against his tongue. It’s never been pleasant, no matter how often he drinks, how often he is bullied by his coffee-addicted friends, or how much the drink has cooled down.

Maybe he is sensitive to the heat. But that can’t be it, because he loves the heat. He lives for the summer, for the sun to tickle his cheeks, for his skin to burn in July. So it can’t be the heat, then, because he loves the heat. So it has to be the coffee.

This is the conclusion he comes up with when writing this down in his notes for reasons he hates coffee. It’s an important list, of course, and it comes up in conversations with his friends once or twice a week. It’s ironic, really, since he is the one who works in a coffee shop, not his friends, and _ he _is the one who hates coffee.

It’s a Saturday morning. Tanaka had fallen ill the night prior (probably from too many shots of tequila, but Hinata isn’t bitter enough to point it out to their boss) so Hinata has to come in and cover his shift. Saturday morning isn’t that bad. Most students are sleeping in their hangovers, and the people who do come in are generally nice. Hinata can make coffee in peace while he hums a weird tune under his breath. He sees a few of his regulars come in, but most of them he doesn’t recognize.

He enjoys working sometimes. It gives him the opportunity to buy weird stuff his mom normally wouldn’t let him buy whenever she sends over a check for food. For the record, the inflatable pork curry that he hangs above his bed like a mobile was worth the ¥3,000 he spent. And while that is three hours of labor, it was three hours of labor well spent.

It’s Valentine’s season. A bad season, normally, because college students like to come inside the warmth of Kohi, coo at each other weirdly, and kiss. And while Hinata isn’t entirely uncomfortable with kissing, he surely has done it a few times, it’s just _ weird _to do it in public. In a coffee shop where everyone can see. And, on top of that, he has to learn how to do latte art. He doesn’t know how to do latte art.

It’s 9:47 am when the bell above the door rings. The door is made of wood instead of plexiglass, so it always makes a _ thud _ when it closes. Hinata likes the noise, though. The first person in line asks for an iced caramel macchiato, and while Hinata wants to protest because it’s the beginning of _ February, _ he got in trouble last time he did that, so he keeps his lips shut.

“Can I get a name?” he asks, resisting the urge to make her a hot caramel macchiato and pretending like he doesn’t know the difference.

“Yui,” she says and smiles. Hinata squints.

He goes ahead and makes her drink. He always forgets the order, but he thinks it goes: vanilla syrup, 2% milk, ice, espresso, caramel. Maybe he’s wrong. He is probably wrong. He might just do it wrong to spite her.

After he finishes her drink, he hands it to her with his best customer service smile. “There you go!” he says. “Have a good day.”

She gives him a sly smile before handing him a piece of paper with her number written on it. “Give me a call sometime,” she says and turns around with her abomination. He looks at the handwriting, all loopy and cute. He would like her, sure. But he would never date a coffee drinker. He turns around to get the next person.

And then.

Hinata’s mind blanks. Because he is pretty sure he has just met the most attractive person alive.

It’s weird, having an out-of-body experience like that. Because _ wow,_ he honestly didn’t even think he liked men in that way, but—well, he is honestly pretty sure the straightest man in the world might go gay for this man. Hinata’s lucky his hands are stabilizing himself on the counter, because his knees give out.

Is this one of Tanaka’s regulars? He doesn’t know why Tanaka didn’t tell Hinata about him or why Hinata even wants to know.

He is tall. And muscular. He has a sort of grungy look about him. It suits him, of course, as everything looks like it would suit him. He has dark hair, in a weird fringe, but not in a bad way, really. In a way that seems like it would only look good on him. He notices the _ Chuo Volleyball _ sweater after a moment of ogling. Hinata goes to Chuo. He is certainly not on the volleyball team, but _ damn. _A volleyball player. Hinata’s palms sweat.

He’s hot. Hot enough to burn his tongue.

He crumples up the paper with the girl’s number on it and throws it in the wastebasket.

“Hi there!” Hinata says, his customer service voice thick. He’s trying to smile, and maybe he is smiling too hard because the man grimaces. Ah, he should dial that back a bit. “Welcome to Kohi Coffee, what can I get started for you?”

He bites his lip, contemplating. Hinata almost faints at the sight of his teeth on his lips. If Hinata had any dignity left, he’d probably attempt to put his brain back together, but he really has none left. So it’s okay, then.

“Black coffee,” he decides, and his gruff voice hits Hinata right at the base of his stomach. Hinata thanks his lucky _ stars _ that no one is behind him or that none of his coworkers can see the mess he is. He has honestly, genuinely never felt this attraction toward _ anyone _and he doesn’t know what to do with himself. “Medium.”

“Medium black coffee,” Hinata responds, picking up the 16 ounce and writing the order on the thick paper cup. “Would you like room for cream?”

“No,” he says, short and succinct.

Hinata smiles. “Can I get a name?”

The man shuffles around for a moment, picking through his shorts. Hinata notices, then, that he is wearing _ gym _shorts in February. If he wasn’t so attracted to this man, he would probably say something.

He says something, anyway. “Shorts?”

The man stops for a moment, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “What?” he asks, defensive. “Shorts are good.”

“It’s February,” Hinata points out. He might be wearing two sweaters even though the heat is blasting. “You might catch a cold!”

“I have coffee to keep me warm,” he says, and Hinata tries not to make a face. “Kageyama,” he says after a moment. “The name is Kageyama.”

Hinata’s brain thinks he’s just giving him his name for the hell of it, but he remembers he is a barista and it is literally his _ job _to write down his name on the cup. “Ka-ge-ya-ma,” Hinata says, emphasizing each syllable. Just because he can, he sneaks a little heart next to the ‘a’. “Okay Kageyama, your total will be ¥300.”

Kageyama pulls three ¥100 coins and hands them to Hinata. Hinata happily takes them and puts them in the cash register. He hates working Saturdays, mostly, but today was a good day. Just to see the most beautiful man alive.

As Hinata prepares Kageyama’s drink (their coffee shop is exclusively pour over coffee, which makes the wait time really long, but most people prefer fresh coffee versus coffee that has been sitting for two hours), he pouts when he has to think about the fact that he will probably never see his face again.

Unless he goes to a Chuo volleyball tournament. Hinata giggles to himself, thinking about how weird that would be. He is pretty obsessive, but not _ that _obsessive. He will have to let the flame die in his heart, then.

“Here you go,” Hinata says, smiling big enough that he hurts his mouth.

Hinata thinks Kageyama will sit down, or maybe he will leave, but he stays. Standing there. Grounded.

Hinata tilts his head and frowns. If he wasn’t as high-strung as he was, he would honestly think he saw Kageyama blush. “Is there anything else I can get for you?”

“Tanaka,” he says, sounding gruff. He clears his throat. “Tanaka usually works Saturdays. Is he sick?”

Ah. So he _ is _ a regular. That bums Hinata out in a way he doesn’t want to explain quite yet, but he puts that feeling in the back of his throat. “In a way,” Hinata says, not mentioning the fact that he saw Tanaka down four shots in ten minutes. Hinata would like to mention, though, that he, _ too, _was at the party, but he showed up to work, anyway.

“Ah, okay.” They stand in silence for a moment, entirely too awkward, when Kageyama speaks up again. “Tell him that I hope he feels better.”

“I will!” He won’t, because he will forget. Hinata forgets everything, it seems, when he looks in Kageyama’s eyes. It’s like a severe case of whiplash, except it’s a thousand butterflies in his stomach and his brain is doing somersaults. So maybe it isn’t whiplash at all. He will think on that.

Kageyama clears his throat again, looking increasingly constipated and like he can’t find the words he wants to say. Hinata thinks that’s cute, but then he remembers that he’s dealing with a coffee drinker, which settles his butterflies by a little. “Are you in Algebra 2300 with Professor Watanabe?”

Hinata’s eyes widen, because _ what. _ “Mondays and Wednesdays at 11:30?”

Kageyama swallows thickly, and Hinata watches his adam’s apple bob. “Yeah. You’re Hinata, right? You sit in the front row.”

Hinata feels like he actually gets whiplash in his brain this time. _ What, _he thinks again, because—”How have I never seen you before?!”

Kageyama looks sheepish, like it’s somehow _ his _fault that Hinata didn’t know who he was. “To be fair, there are like 300 people in that class. And I sit in the back row. A lot of people don’t notice me.”

Hinata wants to say, _ but you’re impossible to miss! _ And then, _ you’re also the hottest man alive so I don’t know why I never noticed you, because I think my eyes are trained to hone in on pretty things, _but that seems a bit forward, even for Hinata. So he says instead, “Now I feel bad! I feel like I’m contractually obliged to sit next to you on Monday.”

“What?” Kageyama asks, a pretty blush settling on his cheeks. “You don’t have to do that.”

Hinata waves his hand. Honestly, he doesn’t show his true motive, which is to sit creepily close to Kageyama without suspicion and smell him like the rabid dog he is. This way is the easiest to get what he wants. “Come in the afternoon, next time,” Hinata says, “to Kohi Coffee, I mean,” he tacks on for clarification. “Your next coffee is on me.”

“You really don’t have to do that.”

“I do!” Hinata insists. For a variety of reasons. He wants to see his pretty face again outside of class, is the main one. “I feel like if I don’t give you hot coffee, you will die of hypothermia!”

Kageyama smiles. It’s almost impossible to notice, and Hinata probably wouldn’t have if he hadn’t been so fixated on his face. He realizes that that’s the first time Kageyama has smiled the whole time he’s been here. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he says.

And with that, he takes his coffee and leaves.

2) Intense

It’s black and white for Hinata. He has had coffee before and every single time, without fail, it has tasted terrible. Maybe it’s the taste, not the heat. The taste is intense, concentrated, and just… a sensory overload, honestly.

Yachi sits him down one day and hands him a cup of black coffee. “This is for your own good,” she says, and he gags at the smell. He gulps down three sips (a record) before dry heaving, and Yachi suggests that he might be allergic to coffee.

As it is, he had an allergy test the year prior (after he thought he was allergic to wasps, and he’s not—wasps just suck in general) and he was only mildly allergic to pollen. So, it can’t be an allergy, then. Some people just don’t like certain things, and he can’t blame it on himself entirely. That’s because coffee is just gross, and it _ should _be a general consensus, but it’s not.

Ask Natsu. She’s ten and she thinks coffee is gross.

Anytime he has had coffee (which is often enough that it is concerning), he can feel his taste buds tingling. Not in the way sour candy makes your eyes burn and the sides of your tongue tingle, but in the way you forget what cheese tastes like for six minutes. Okay, then, maybe he’s drinking coffee wrong.

He just doesn’t know how he would go about tasting coffee correctly.

It’s Monday morning, 11:00, when Hinata walks in Kohi Coffee. Tanaka is behind the cash register wearing sunglasses, so he already knows how his mood will be. It’s not busy because most people are in class, so Kohi has a nice ambience to it.

_ Thud._ That would be the door.

Tanaka makes a face when the door slams, but his face softens when he sees it’s Hinata. “Hinata, my favorite underclassman!” he says, and then flinches at his own voice. Hinata wasn’t there to witness the party last night, but he’s already figuring how it went. “Call me senpai.”

Hinata laughs. He loves Tanaka. “Hey, Tanaka-senpai! Are the sunglasses inside a new look? It suits you well.”

Tanaka grimaces but then puts up a thumb. “Thank you, Hinata. Trying something new to spice up my look.” He pauses for a moment, adjusting the sunglasses on his face. “What are you doing here, dear kouhai? You don’t drink coffee.”

“No, I do not!” Hinata smiles. The chill is really getting to Hinata lately, even though he piled on three sweaters. “The coffee isn’t for me. It’s for someone else.”

“Oh, did little Hinata meet a girl?” Tanaka laughs, loud and raucous. It shakes some tables and Hinata makes a face. “I thought you swore off any girl who drinks coffee.”

Hinata remembers the number that girl—Yui—had given him. Maybe it _ was _the coffee, but maybe it was an excuse, too. “I did. I still am. It’s not a girl, though.”

Tanaka raises an eyebrow suspiciously. “A boy, then,” he answers himself. Not a question. Hinata nods, feeling embarrassed. It’s not bad, he thinks. And Tanaka won’t think he’s weird for thinking a boy is cute. “Do I know him?”

Hinata nods again. “I met him on Saturday. He’s one of your regulars.” He waits for Tanaka to pick it up, but he doesn’t. Hinata thinks Tanaka would remember his one regular that is built like a Greek god. “Kageyama,” Hinata elaborates.

Tanaka takes a moment to process the name. After a moment, his mouth turns into an ‘o’. Hinata can tell he is surprised, even with the sunglasses. And then, he laughs. The tables shake again. “Kageyama?! That dumbass?”

“Yes!” Hinata yells, defensive. “It’s not—it’s not like I _ like _him or think he’s cute or anything—” a barefaced lie. “I just—it’s a consolidation! He’s in one of my classes and I didn’t even know who he was.”

Tanaka purses his lips and gives Hinata a look. “You think he’s cute, don’t you.” Also not a question.

Hinata realizes he’s suddenly getting warm, and then notices the red blush on his neck. Oh, fuck. “I mean—he’s… he’s not _ not _cute. I—” Tanaka gives him a look, “it’s not like that at all!” He pauses for a moment, using his scarf to cover up his blush. “He’s out of my league, anyway.”

Tanaka frowns, takes off his sunglasses (and then grimaces), and gives Hinata a look. “The only person out of your league is Kiyoko herself.” Tanaka nods to himself, and Hinata nods back. Kiyoko is probably out of her own league, and Hinata is genuinely surprised that Tanaka has even talked to her more than once.

“What does he normally order?” Hinata asks, and he gets the feeling that it’s probably black coffee, just like the time he ordered when Hinata was working. Hinata makes a face.

“Black coffee.”

Hinata sticks out his tongue and adjusts his scarf again. Maybe buying Kageyama coffee is a bad idea. Hinata isn’t quite sure he can purchase black coffee, against it as he is. “I’ll get something different, then. How about a hot caramel macchiato?”

Tanaka nods, laughing under his breath. He makes the hot macchiato with ease, and, well—Tanaka likes coffee, he’s good at making it, and Kohi Coffee is a good fit for him. Hinata wonders when he, himself will quit, but he enjoys having money. So probably never.

After Tanaka is finished, he gives him a wink and says the drink is on him. Hinata appreciates the gesture, because he _ never _ wants to spend money on Satan’s black piss. The hot caramel macchiato doesn’t smell _ terrible, _but bad enough Hinata doesn’t even want to look at it. It’s an honest change from before, where his eyes would water at even the mention of coffee.

His class starts soon, so he makes a beeline toward the mathematics building. He might be late, and he really hopes Kageyama decides to show up. He will have to give someone else the coffee, then, and the whole idea of getting the coffee will have been for nothing.

He enters the room at 11:20. He normally makes his way toward the front, and his normal seat is open (next to Mei and Dobashi). He scans his eyes around the room instead and he sees, then: sitting in the very back row, head lying on his Algebra textbook, dark hair. Hinata feels his legs shake, because _ damn… _he actually is in the same class.

Hinata thought he knew the majority of the freshman at Chuo. Sure, there are a _ lot,_ but most know him or of him. Either through class, Kohi, sports games, or something else. Hinata gets excited and introduces himself to everyone, and everyone tends to like him, so—Hinata feels like he should have noticed Kageyama before, because how do you _ not _notice him?

“Kageyama!” Hinata says, pushing away a book bag on the seat to the left of Kageyama. Kageyama makes a startled noise and his head shoots up. He rubs at his eyes and looks around in confusion, until his eyes finally settle on Hinata. Even sitting down, he is entirely too tall compared to Hinata. “You’re here!” and it sounds kind of lame after Hinata says it.

“Yeah,” Kageyama responds, lips curling in a way Hinata isn’t quite sure how to decipher. “I go here, too.”

Hinata blanks, turns red, and then stutters. “Well—yeah! I mean, I knew that. Well, I guess I didn’t when you came in on Saturday, but I know _ now. _ I guess—” Hinata takes a breath. He is completely embarrassing himself, and Kageyama seems to enjoy it. That _ bastard. _“I guess—I just wanted to say hi. So. Hi.”

There it is again. That smile that’s so difficult to notice, but so _ worth _noticing. “Hi,” he responds.

Badum. That would be his heart trying to escape his ribcage.

Hinata feels lost for a moment, and then suddenly remembers what he’s holding in his hand. “Oh!” he yells, a little too loud going by the look an upperclassman gives him. He might have been at the party Tanaka attended the previous night, judging by the sunglasses he is also sporting. Huh. “I brought something. For you,” he clarifies, just in case it isn’t clear.

He shoves the hot caramel macchiato in Kageyama’s general direction, but it seems his coordination hasn’t completely woken up, or maybe he’s nervous, because the coffee spills all over his hands and onto Kageyama’s pants.

“Oh,” Hinata says, entirely too nervous and agitated for this to happen. “Fuck.”

The coffee isn’t as hot as it was anymore, but Kageyama makes a face which sends the contents of his stomach straight through his bottom. Oh, damn. He already messed up. “S-sorry,” Hinata cries, grabbing a napkin a freshman offers him. He tries to clean up the stain with the napkin, and while he is successful in getting some coffee out, it doesn’t go over too well.

Kageyama is making a constipated face, and if Hinata wasn’t so high-strung, he would laugh. Of course. This is what happens when you buy coffee, the devil’s drink. Hinata’s face is so red that it matches his hair and he looks like an inflatable orange.

“Hinata,” Kageyama says, and something in his voice makes Hinata look up. Hinata’s bottom lip may be quivering, it’s anyone’s guess. Kageyama grabs Hinata’s hand that is trying to scrub out the coffee and says, “You dumbass.”

Hinata squawks in indignation. “What!” he yells, ignoring the fact that Kageyama is holding his hand. Then, he notices that he was rubbing the napkin awfully close to Kageyama’s inner thigh, and… Oh god.

Hinata looks away. “Oh my god,” Hinata mutters, trying not to laugh. His lower lip wiggles and air escapes his nose. He looks at the ceiling and wonders why the universe hates him. “Oh my god. I am so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kageyama mutters, dropping Hinata’s hand. Something in his voice makes Hinata look again, and he is as red as the fucking sun. “It’s… it’s a natural reaction.” Hinata’s lip wobbles some more, and Kageyama says, “Hinata. Stop. You are such a dumbass.”

And maybe Hinata would be offended, because Kageyama just called him a _ dumbass _ —well, he _ is _ offended. And, it is evident that he _ is _dumb, because he inadvertently had just given Kageyama a boner—and while that is way too embarrassing to even decipher how he feels about it, he finally laughs. Loud enough that the upperclassman with sunglasses throws a pencil in his general direction, and a few people turn their heads to look at the commotion.

“Hinata!” Kageyama cries, reaching his hands to shut him up.

“I am so sorry!” Hinata cries in between laughs, a tear escaping his eye. Maybe it is the situation, which Hinata made awkward and uncomfortable. He will never live this down if he ever sees Kageyama again.

It takes a few minutes for Hinata to capture his breath, and he feels bad for laughing at Kageyama’s boner, but—he doesn’t really know how he feels about it. Maybe he’s just awkward. He will deal with that emotion later. “I’ll dry clean your pants,” Hinata says, because that’s the best thing he can offer after laughing at a man’s boner.

Kageyama is still red, but it’s fading to a nice shade of pink. He’s wearing his gym shorts, again, and Hinata doesn’t exactly think gym shorts need a dry clean—

“It’s fine,” Kageyama says. It seems like Kageyama is a man of very few words, and while that is kind of disconcerting in Hinata’s book, it seems to suit him. “It’s fine. I don’t even like caramel macchiatos.”

Hinata makes a squawking noise, then. “What! I’m sorry that I spent my _ hard-earned _money to make you happy—” he decides to omit the fact that Tanaka had given him the drink for free “—and this is the thanks I get?”

“You spilled it all over me,” Kageyama points out, and also decides to omit the fact that he was a little too comfortable with Hinata rubbing his hands on his inner thigh. It’s better if that subject is left alone. “I think it’s even, then.”

Hinata nods. He likes that answer.

“Shouyou!” Mei yells from the front. The professor should be here any moment, and while Hinata would love to sit next to Kageyama and his boner… “What’re you doing back there? Come sit in the front!”

Kageyama mouths the word _ Shouyou, _and it does something funny to Hinata’s head. He doesn’t have the time to sort through his brain, so Hinata stands up and says, “Sorry. I didn’t tell Mei I’d be sitting back here with you. I should go back before she throws a fit.”

Kageyama’s face is too difficult to interpret, and Hinata really doesn’t have the time—

“Next time, bring black coffee.”

Hinata’s eyebrow twitches. “I love how you’re assuming there will be a _ next time.” _

And there’s his smile again. Badum. “You owe me for the dry cleaning.”

Hinata nods, because he _ had _offered to dry clean his… gym shorts… but, anyway. Maybe there will be a next time, and maybe he won’t spill it all over Kageyama’s thighs. Hopefully. It will be a funny story to tell when he isn’t so embarrassed about it anymore.

“Okay,” Hinata says, feeling more confident about this terrible interaction. He knows Mei will make fun of him when he tells her, but—the promise of a next time makes up for it. “Next time, then.”

Hinata leaves at that, too high-strung to make another effort at having an honest-to-god conversation. Kageyama doesn’t seem very good at conversations, and that’s okay, because it seems like Hinata isn’t very good either.

Hinata gathers his belongings and sits to the right of Mei, who is giving him a dangerous look. Mei is a freshman, majoring in Physics, and is probably more intelligent than the entire student body combined. “What was that,” she says. Not a question, maybe a demand.

“Nothing,” Hinata responds, picking at his nails. His fingers smell like coffee and it takes all of his willpower not to make a disgusted face.

Mei gives him a look, but she drops it.

As the professor walks in, Hinata turns around to look at Kageyama again. He’s mainly obscured by other freshman students, but Hinata can tell he’s looking at him. Hinata smiles, then, because it seems like the best thing to do.

Kageyama’s lips twitch in response.

During class, while the professor drones about something math related, Hinata thinks about his friends. How Kageyama will fit in with his friends, if his friends will like Kageyama—this line of thinking is entirely too forward, because he’s only known Kageyama for three days, and he already wants to introduce him to his friends.

All of his friends are intense. Mei especially, because she does competitive boxing and likes to read dissertations in her spare time. All of his friends are intense in different ways. Yachi is intense because she seems soft-spoken and sweet, and she is, but she can be really… scary when she’s angry. Or, not scary. Maybe interesting.

Tanaka is just always intense. He likes being the loudest, funniest, manliest guy in the room. Hinata is intense, too, because he just likes… he just likes being alive. He likes the sun, all things happy, and maybe his intensity comes from how much he cares.

Kageyama seems intense for entirely different reasons; most of them Hinata can’t figure out yet. He’s intense. Like coffee. Like the coffee Hinata spilled all over Kageyama’s crotch.

Oh god.

3) Jitters

Number three is jitters. Hinata is fairly short, short enough that it is embarrassing. In that way, stuff affects him more easily. Alcohol, especially, and it only takes a few shots for him to forget what happened. And caffeine, definitely. A single cup of coffee can make him wired for the rest of the day. Hinata, out of all people, does not need to be more wired.

People say that the caffeine jitters they get make them feel good, but the caffeine jitters that Hinata gets just make him feel gross. Like when he first tried kombucha and threw up. Maybe he’s just sensitive to gross drinks, but that can’t be it. He once drank a jar of pickle juice for a dare and didn’t gag once. It can’t be that he’s sensitive. So it has to be the coffee, then.

Hinata would like to blame all of his troubles on coffee, and while a good portion of his troubles come from it, it’s not entirely true. Maybe he is obnoxious about the coffee thing, but he works in a coffee shop, so it isn’t entirely unprecedented.

The jitters, though, make him feel weird. Like it’s throwing his head around in a cotton candy machine, and like his knees aren’t stable enough to support his bodyweight. Yachi suggests that it may be a condition called hypoglycemia, but Hinata’s doesn’t think he has that, so—

Well, it must be the coffee, then. Because it can’t be Hinata.

“Maybe,” Yachi suggests, her glitter pens stacked in a neat line, “it’s _ you _who has an aversion to coffee. Because of your attitude.”

Hinata sticks out his tongue in response, gathering up all of his pens strewn across the table. He’s supposed to be doing his Anthropology homework before work on Tuesday, but he gets distracted easily. Mainly because of the thick, black coffee Yachi is drinking. “Can’t be me,” he responds. “I like everything. Except coffee. So it has to be the coffee.”

Yachi gives him an exasperated look. Hinata and Yachi have known each other since high school, and that was before Yachi became a caffeine-addict, so that’s why they’re friends in the first place. Yachi would probably die for coffee, and Hinata would _ kill _because he hates coffee, but it’s a fine match in every other regard.

“Well,” Yachi says, organizing her homework into different folders and binders—each color coded. She’s an organization freak like that, and Hinata respects her for it, but he ends up shoving all of his papers in his book bag. “You have to go to work soon, don’t you? I should leave anyway. I’ll try to visit after I finish my essay.”

Hinata appreciates the effort his friends put in.

Tuesday afternoon is fine. He makes coffee, earns tips from American transfer students, and he’s working with Yamaguchi, who is generally nice.

He’s almost ready to leave (the night shift people are coming in) when Yamaguchi says: “I was thinking of going to the volleyball game this Saturday.” Hinata’s ears perk at volleyball.

Chuo Volleyball. Ah.

“Oh?” Hinata asks, attempting to act nonchalant. “Really?”

“Yep,” Yamaguchi says noncommittally. He’s not looking at Hinata in the face because he’s layering on his jackets, but he is definitely blushing.

Hinata scratches at his neck, and then covers it up with a scarf because his neck is the first thing to blush and give him away. “Going to see anyone play?”

Yamaguchi squeaks and looks away for a moment before going back to layer on his clothes. Yamaguchi is even more anal about the winter, and he _ hates _being cold. “My friend from high school plays on the team.” Hinata nods his head. Him and Yamaguchi didn’t go to the same high school. Maybe… he could sneak on in with Yamaguchi. Just to see Kageyama play.

“Is it free for students?”

Yamaguchi nods his head in lieu of responding and Hinata thinks. Would it be weird to show up and watch Kageyama play volleyball even though he’s only known him for a week? That would definitely be weird.

But, Hinata is weird. So.

“I think I’ll go with you, then!” Hinata says, not even asking. He knows if he asks, Yamaguchi will find a way to worm out of it—he’s probably embarrassed about his friend or something. “I have a—” Hinata pauses for a moment, “—a friend on the volleyball team as well! We can say hi afterwards.”

Yamaguchi nods, then, and skitters out of the coffee shop. Hinata laughs to himself. He loves all of his friends, no matter how weird they are.

It’s Wednesday, 11:00, when he walks in Kohi Coffee. Tanaka is there, as usual, and he is fortunately not hungover this time. _ Thud. _That would be the door. Hinata waves over at him, hikes up his bookbag, adjusts his scarf (to be safe), and walks over. “Hey, Tanaka-senpai!” Tanaka beams.

“Hello my favorite kouhai! Are you getting another drink for your _ friend?” _ The way he says the word _ friend, _ though, is concerning enough that Hinata looks away at the implication. It’s not like him and Kageyama are friends—they’ve only interacted twice, and the second was a disaster on Hinata’s part. And, there’s definitely nothing further than that, because Hinata isn’t even sure that Kageyama likes men in that way. Which makes him frown, because he’s honestly not sure he likes men in that way.

“Black coffee,” Hinata says instead of responding. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

“Oh no,” Tanaka laughs, setting up the pour over. “What did you do? I haven’t seen Kageyama since Sunday, so that must mean it was pretty bad.”

Hinata narrows his eyes and refuses to respond. Tanaka will have to get it out of Hinata some other time.

After Tanaka finishes the pour over, Hinata tries to pay, but Tanaka just gives him another wink. “Aoki-san will get mad at you for handing out these free drinks,” Hinata points out. Aoki-san is their boss, an elderly old woman who is generally nice but can be nitpicky about her coffee shop when she wants to be.

“What Aoki-san doesn’t know won’t kill her,” Tanaka responds easily, and then: “I heard from a little Yamaguchi that you’re going to the volleyball game. Might you know a player on the team?” 

Tanaka definitely knows Kageyama is on the team, but Hinata decides to say at that moment, “Well, would you look at the time! I’ll be late for class, and we don’t want my coffee to get cold. Thanks, Tanaka.”

Tanaka waves him off like the troublemaker he is, and Hinata races to building two.

11:23. There he is. Sitting in the back row, hair messy, sleeping in his textbook again.

Just to be safe, he sends a quick text to Mei.

**11:23 [shouyou]: sitting in the back 2day. dont miss me toooo much**

**11:23 [mei]: What will I do without you?! Dobashi says he misses you!**

**11:24 [shouyou]: im literally looking at u….. u didnt even look at dobashi**

**11:24 [mei]: STFU**

“Kageyama!” Hinata yells, sliding to the left of him and kicking out another freshman. His matters are much more important, obviously.

Kageyama blinks awake and seems too tired to even complain about the noise. Hinata keeps a tough grip to the coffee, just to make doubly sure he doesn’t act like an idiot this time.

There are bags under Kageyama’s eyes. Hinata sets down the coffee in front of him with a smile, sits down, and leans forward until they’re face to face. “Hey there, Tiredyama.”

“Hi,” is his response. Short and sweet.

“I guess bringing you coffee was a good idea!” Hinata laughs, and then leans back because he had practically been nose to nose with Kageyama. “It’s black, this time,” he clarifies. He had messed up thrice last time—getting Kageyama coffee other than black, spilling it all over him, and then giving him a boner—so, at least he knows he got _ one _thing right.

Kageyama makes an appreciative noise and takes a long, drawn out swig of the black coffee. Something other than disgust fills Hinata’s body—it’s too embarrassing to name, so he leaves it at that. Maybe it has to do with the way Kageyama’s adam’s apple bobs up and down as he takes long sips from the cup. Maybe it has to do with the look in his eyes, because the tired, gruff look is really fucking… hot. Maybe it has to do with his smell, because he smells like fresh cologne and sweat, and while that isn’t entirely a _ good _smell, Hinata loves it.

Kageyama finishes the black coffee without taking a breath, and Hinata—well, that thought isn’t entirely appropriate, so he abandons it. After Kageyama sets the cup down, wipes at his lips (he has a cute coffee mustache), he says, “Thanks.”

Hinata quite literally _ beams _ at the thanks. Maybe he’s lame. He _ is _ lame. “It’s no problem! I hope it suits your…” Hinata stops for a moment, and then remembers he’s talking to a _ coffee _drinker. Not only a coffee drinker, but a coffee drinker that will gladly down a cup of black coffee without blinking. Hinata continues, “…your tastes.”

Kageyama must pick something up in Hinata’s tone, or the way he phrases the words, because he says, “What. Do you have a problem with black coffee drinkers?”

Hinata laughs. And then, “I don’t have a problem with black coffee drinkers, no. I just have a problem with coffee drinkers in general.”

Kageyama’s eyebrows scrunch up, and it would be cute if he didn't look constipated. “You work in a coffee shop,” he says blankly.

Hinata groans and rolls his eyes. It is getting warm in the classroom, so he takes off one of his jackets and a scarf. “Tell me something I don’t know! All my friends make fun of me for it.”

“You don’t like coffee at all? Not even the sweet kind? What about frappuccinos from Starbucks?”

Hinata realizes, after a moment, that that may have been the most amount of words Kageyama has ever spoken in a sentence. Hinata beams a little brighter, then. “Don’t even mention Starbucks in my vicinity. It’s the American transfer student’s breeding grounds.”

An American transfer student yells a rightful, “Hey!” but Hinata waves them off.

Kageyama laughs, and it takes a second to process it. It’s the first time Hinata has heard Kageyama laugh, and it certainly feels like a monumental occasion. “You’re such a dumbass,” he says, instead of responding like a normal person.

“What?!” Hinata squawks, but he’s not actually offended. Maybe he likes being called dumbass by one person. “Is dumbass the only word in your vocabulary?”

Kageyama doesn’t respond and narrows his eyes. Hinata turns his attention toward the front of the room, where his professor is beginning their lecture. Hinata reminds himself to look up _ good conversation starters for extremely attractive men _on the internet when he gets home.

And while Hinata has made the entire effort to get to know Kageyama, Kageyama manages to whisper something to Hinata while the professor drones on about something stupid and math-related. “Um,” he says, choking on his own tongue. “I have a volleyball game this Saturday against Tsubaka. If you want to come.” And then when Hinata doesn’t respond, as he’s sitting in shocked silence, Kageyama continues. “Only if you want to come. I’m not begging you. Or forcing you. Um.”

Hinata smiles, and goes to make a loud proclamation of his love, but then he remembers that he’s in the middle of a math lecture, so he dials it back a bit. “I would love to come!” Hinata whisper-yells, and ignores the look the surrounding people are giving him. Hinata also doesn’t mention that he was already planning on coming, or that he knew there would be a volleyball game in the first place, because he doesn’t want to seem like a creep. Even though he totally is. “Yes, I’ll come.”

Kageyama nods, satisfied that his effort worked. He leaves it at that, and they don’t have another conversation until the end of class, because Hinata is trying to pay attention. Trying, of course, but he keeps getting distracted by Kageyama’s heady smell, and if Hinata wasn’t already a creep by now, then… well…

Nearing the end of class, Mei shoots him a text.

**12:58 [mei]: You disgust me. You little horndog.**

**12:58 [shouyou]: what!111!!!! are u talking about. wtf.**

**12:59 [mei]: You want to FUCK the main setter of the volleyball team!**

Main setter. Hinata files away that thought for another time.

**12:59 [shouyou]: i dont want to fuck him!!! i want to get to know him, wtf. thats normal, ure just a little horndog**

**13:00 [mei]: Would you look at the time. We’ll have this conversation another time. Good look, little Shouyou ;)**

**13:00 [shouyou]: ITS NOT LIKE THAT**

Kageyama is waiting for Hinata, Hinata realizes, after class is dismissed. Hinata scurrily collects his belongings and bounds up to Kageyama with a smile. “About the volleyball match—”

“Don’t tell me you’ve already bailed out on me,” Kageyama sounds like he’s joking, but he also seems genuinely distressed at the idea.

“No!” Hinata protests. He’s still thinking about Kageyama gulping down all the black coffee, and his neck suddenly turns red. “No. After the game, do you want to—” Hinata stops for a moment, his words catching up with his brain. “—do you want to—ah. Doyouwanttohangoutafterward?”

“What,” Kageyama asks.

Hinata hides his face in his hands for a moment to catch his breath. He’s normally not this bad at trying to make friends, but Kageyama is entirely unapproachable and he has to put in way more effort than he’s used to. Hinata removes his hands from his face and blinks a few times. “Do you want to. Hang out afterward?” Hinata turns a few shades of red down his neck. He can’t believe he’s acting like a grade schooler, but Kageyama makes him feel like a grade schooler, so—

Kageyama is red, too. Unbelievable. They’re both hopeless. “S-sure,” he mutters. Kageyama blushes all the way down to his toes. “Sure. I mean, yeah. Sure.”

“That’s a lot of sure’s!” Hinata says, because he has nothing else to say. He looks at his watch. 13:04. “Oh, would you look at the time. I have astrophysics next, so I should be going. I’ll see you then, Yamayama!” Hinata bolts out of the room without a breath, because _ goddammit. _ He’s so embarrassing.

It takes all of astrophysics, and then some, to recover from his morbid embarrassment. He’s _ always _ been good at making friends, or talking to people, so Kageyama should be no different. He _ is _no different, is the thing—except, maybe he is. Maybe Kageyama is the type of person Hinata normally wouldn’t make friends with, but isn’t that all the more reason to make friends with him, anyway?

It doesn’t entirely have to do with the fact that Hinata wants to jump him like a dog. Sure, that’s a large part of it, but there is really no guarantee that Kageyama likes men in the same way, and even if he _ did, _ well—Hinata has said before that Kageyama is out of his league just by looks alone. His personality, though, could use some work. Hinata, maybe, just wants to get to know him. To know the main setter on the best volleyball team in the country. It could be another thing in his _ getting to know me _arsenal, “Hey, I know the main setter from Chuo!”

Something like that, maybe.

Thursday goes by without trouble. Yamaguchi is still embarrassed about something, and Hinata connects the dots enough that he assumes he is seeing someone on the men’s volleyball team. That idea would have made Hinata pause a week ago, but things have changed enough in the past few days that a man liking a man isn’t an entirely pressing matter. It’s not like Hinata is in a rush to know why he wants to eat Kageyama the way he does.

Most of Friday is spent working. Hinata drones on, forgetting how to make macchiatos, how many espresso shots go in a latte, the usual. Tanaka yells at him for good measure, but he’s not doing it to be malicious. Hinata is distracted.

Friday comes and goes, and when Saturday finally shows up, Hinata is way too nervous. So nervous that he feels like he will float up into the clouds. In a weird, grounded part of his brain, he likens the feeling to a caffeine high. But, that weird grounded part of his brain loses in the end, because Hinata refuses to think in coffee analogies.

He’s jittery. He’s nervous to see Kageyama play, and he’s worried that Kageyama will play bad. It doesn’t make sense, actually, because Kageyama _ can’t _be bad, since he is the starting setter for the best volleyball team in the nation as a first-year. But still. Hinata doesn’t attempt to explain his irrational thoughts.

And also, maybe Kageyama will be too tired to hang out with him after the match. And also, Hinata might die if he sees Kageyama sweat. Or his muscles flex. Or if he simply breathes in Hinata’s direction.

All of his emotions are strung into a tight ball in his chest, and if Yamaguchi wasn’t acting the same way, Hinata might have thought he was going insane.

Him and Yamaguchi are a terrible duo, it seems. Because Yamaguchi tries to calm down Hinata, but then he gets more high-strung the more erratic Hinata gets. It is very cyclical, evidently, because when Yamaguchi is acting high-strung and nervous, Hinata gets even more jittery.

Tanaka, in the end, ends up coming with them and calms them down with a few punches to the head. “You two are idiots. Calm down,” he says. Hinata almost points out that Tanaka scored 17% on his last quiz, but he’s too nice for that. Also, Tanaka would point out Hinata scored 14% on _ his _last quiz.

It’s really cold, so Hinata brings two jackets and a scarf. Yamaguchi, interestingly enough, doesn’t bring another jacket, but then he says, “I’ll be getting one by the end of the night.” It takes a hot minute for Hinata to understand what Yamaguchi means, but then—oh. Yamaguchi is implying someone will _ give _him their jacket. That sly little dog.

The Chuo volleyball gym is pretty packed. While it’s only a practice match, Tsubaka and Chuo have been enemies for as long as any volleyball player can remember. It’s give or take with them, and the two teams are basically equal in playing ability. Hinata feels jittery again—but, it’s different this time. He’s not nervous for Kageyama, or for himself, he’s _ excited. _He has never really shown interest in volleyball because of his height, but—well. A bunch of hot men running around the court is suddenly exciting to watch.

Yamaguchi points out his friend from high school—a bratty, tall, blond middle blocker. He’s number #11, wearing sports glasses, and seems entirely uninterested in the whole idea of playing volleyball. But he must be good, at least, because he made it on Chuo. Hinata points out Kageyama to Yamaguchi (not Tanaka, because that would seem redundant), and Yamaguchi nods appreciatively. “He’s starting setter,” Hinata elaborates, because that seems important, somehow.

Tanaka points out one of his friends. The starting libero (he calls him Yuu, but most people call him Noya). He’s _ way _shorter than the rest of the team. Probably shorter than Hinata. Tanaka then says, “I played volleyball in high school with him.”

Hinata squawks in surprise. Tanaka played volleyball too? That seems weird, honestly, but not _ that _weird. And, then, Tanaka says, “I was the ace! Haha!”

Yamaguchi explains the rules of volleyball to Hinata. They really go in and out of his brain, but he accepts most of the rules with a nod of his head. Tanaka points out that Kageyama is the only starting first-year, even Yamaguchi’s #11 doesn’t play that often, and somehow that feels _ really _important. 

Tanaka, then, explains the nuances of why Chuo and Tsubaka have been enemies for as long as time. It’s not only that, though, Tanaka elaborates (Tanaka points out that he knows these things because Noya loves gossip, and Noya loves feeding it to Tanaka). “You see,” Tanaka says, a contemplative look on his face, “your little starting setter here has some beef with Tsubaka’s starting setter. So maybe this practice match will be a little more interesting this year.”

_ Huh, _Hinata thinks. Kageyama has beef with another setter? It’s not wholly unsurprising, since Kageyama is way too unapproachable in the first place. But the beef is relevant enough that Tanaka brings it up.

The starting lineup for Chuo is Kageyama (#9), Noya (#4), two third-years (Ushiwaka—#5, Kuroo—#3), and three fourth-years (Abe—#2, Uchida—#1, Ogawa—#6). Yamaguchi says that Kageyama, of course, is the setter, Noya the libero, Ushiwaka and Uchida the outside hitters, Kuroo and Ogawa the middle blockers, and Abe the opposite hitter. Hinata has no idea what those positions mean, of course, but he nods helpfully. Uchida is the team captain, as the #1 suggests, and he looks tall and scary. Kageyama fits right in, then, because he _ also _looks tall and scary.

“Tsukki,” Yamaguchi says, “will definitely start next year, after Ogawa graduates.” Hinata acts like he cares, but he really doesn’t, because he is only here for Kageyama.

It’s a really good game, Hinata thinks, as the game progresses. Kageyama definitely seems like he knows what he’s doing, judging by how good his sets are, how strong his biceps look, how the sweat trickles down his face…

In the end Tsubaka wins, which is totally disappointing and not fun. The game was fun, though, just not the victory. It was a close call, and they only played three sets because it was getting late. 27-25, 28-30, and 31-33—Chuo and Tsubaka, respectively. Tsubaka’s starting setter (Oikawa, Tanaka says later) seems very pleased by the results of the game. A few dozen girls are flocking him and asking for his autograph.

Hinata, Yamaguchi, and Tanaka wait while the stadium floods out. Hinata gets nervous again, because he wasn’t able to think about Kageyama while actually watching the game. Now him and Kageyama will have to talk. Face to face. Tanaka laughs at Hinata’s face and then slaps him on the back.

“Lighten up, sunshine! Everything will be fine.” His words do little to assuage his erratic heartbeat, but Hinata appreciates the gesture nonetheless. Yamaguchi is fairing no better, unfortunately.

After the stadium is basically empty, and the Chuo boys are finishing up their stretches, Tanaka leads them toward the team’s locker room. Tanaka supplies them with many stories he and Noya had experienced during high school, and Hinata pretends to listen. Or, well, he loves listening to Tanaka’s stories, but then he’s thinking about Kageyama again, and—

“You came.” Hinata’s heart falls out of his asshole.

Oh man. “Of course I came.” Hinata’s proud of how well his voice comes out. Kageyama is still flushed with exercise, he has sweat dripping from him, and it’s so _ gross _in such a good way. Hinata’s mind has been on overdrive for the past week, and it’s hard to blame himself when God himself is standing in front of him. “You asked!”

Kageyama doesn’t know how to respond to this, but Tanaka and Yamaguchi are shooing Hinata away so they can meet other team members. “Go take a shower!” Hinata yells before he is swept away.

Hinata meets Yamaguchi’s #11, whose name is Tsukishima. Tsukishima promptly calls Hinata “shrimpy” which makes Hinata want to ask why Tsukishima isn’t a starter like Kageyama—but in the end, he has some self-control and just ignores the remark. Noya, then, is next. He’s probably more energetic than Hinata will ever be, so that’s saying something.

Hinata, then, introduces himself to the other team members. “I’m Kageyama’s friend!” he elaborates, after they assume he is some weird fanboy.

Kuroo says, “Friend? Little Kageyama has a friend?” and then he laughs. Hinata laughs too, but doesn’t get what’s so funny.

Ushiwaka is… Hinata can’t find the word. Scary, maybe, but not in a way he’s trying to do it on purpose. Definitely intimidating. He doesn’t mince his words, and he also loves to speak in farming analogies. Though, it seems like he doesn’t appreciate being called Ushiwaka.

Kageyama suddenly appears and Hinata appreciates the distraction, because everyone was introducing themselves, and Chuo has a volleyball team of fourteen, so. He’s overwhelmed.

“Oh, well, there’s my cue!” Hinata yelps, running away from a _ really _ tall Russian kid. The Russian kid insists that he’s the ace, and he _ should _be starting middle blocker—Ogawa doesn’t appreciate that, because he is the other starting middle blocker, Ushiwaka doesn’t appreciate that, because he is the ace, and Kuroo finds his boastful statements funny.

They end up just walking around near the Chuo campus, window shopping while Kageyama explains the rules of volleyball and why Noya has a different colored shirt. “You guys have a librarian on your team?” Hinata asks, surprised. “That’s so random.”

“Not a _ librarian,” _Kageyama elaborates, “a libero. He specializes in defense and can’t make offensive plays.”

Libero. Hinata remembers the word for later.

Then he says the most important job is the setter. Hinata believes him, obviously, because Kageyama touched the ball the most. “It’s the coolest, too.”

“I don’t know if I believe that,” Hinata hums, watching his breath condensate in the air. He lifts his scarf up a little bit more to cover his cheeks. “I liked the hitters. They get all the glory.”

“Well, yeah,” Kageyama grunts in agreement. “But they couldn’t have gotten that ball if the setter hadn’t given it to them. The setter is the main offensive player, they decide who they set to, how to get past blockers, how to crush defense, whether they should rely on speed or power. Setting doesn’t look cool, but that’s what makes it so cool. Because there is so much nuance to one set.”

Kageyama seems passionate about setter being the coolest, so Hinata leaves it alone, even if he wants to bite back. “Then I guess you’ll have to set to me sometime.”

Kageyama’s eyes light up, but also he says, “You’re short.”

Hinata’s eye twitches. He _ knows _he’s short. “I know I’m short!” he yells. “But I can jump.”

Kageyama is disbelieving. “You can’t jump high enough to make up for your height.”

Hinata huffs. “I guess you’ll just have to set to me and see, Bakageyama.”

“Don’t call me Bakageyama.”

“Don’t call me a dumbass, then!”

“No. You dumbass.”

Hinata laughs. Kageyama is really rude, in a way he doesn’t even know he’s being rude. Hinata would normally dislike that, but somehow it suits Kageyama in the best way possible. He likes that. He likes Kageyama, it seems.

The conversation drifts off into general stuff, until Kageyama says, “What is it about coffee you don’t like?”

Hinata names all the reasons, because there are plenty, and then he says, “And finally, because it makes me all jittery inside. I don’t like that feeling!”

Kageyama purses his lips. “Then don’t drink so much coffee.”

“I drink no coffee!” Hinata squawks. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a sip or not, it makes me feel like I’m floating. It’s weird. I don’t get the hype.”

“Maybe it’s the type of coffee you’re drinking.”

“Well, I don’t even _ drink _coffee, what are you deaf—”

“You get used to it,” he says, ignoring Hinata’s squawk. “The caffeine jitters, I mean.”

Hinata huffs. “I don’t want to get used to it. I mean, that means I’ve succumbed and drunken the devil’s piss.” Kageyama laughs, a sharp, sudden bark. That would be the second time, Hinata thinks. Badum. Badum. And that would be his heart, too.

“Dumbass,” Kageyama replies, but he’s smiling.

Hinata feels like he’s floating. Like a hot poker is burrowing in his heart.

Maybe he will never get used to the jitters Kageyama gives him.

It isn’t until later that night Hinata realizes that it’s Valentine’s day.

4) The smell

Most people like the smell of coffee, even if they don’t drink it. Hinata, of course, is not most people, and he finds the smell _ revolting. _To him, at least, it smells like burning tar, or cow shit, or—

Well, how it smells doesn’t particularly matter, but Hinata simply doesn’t find the smell pleasant. He grew up in a house of coffee drinkers; actually, his mom religiously drank three cups of coffee before Hinata woke up. That, though, might not have to do with his mom’s love for coffee, but more with Hinata in the first place. His dad, too, had two cups a day, one before work, one after. Natsu doesn’t like coffee, since she’s ten, but that doesn’t guarantee she won’t like coffee in the future, no matter how much Hinata tries to dissuade her.

Oh—what was his point? The smell is just plain gross, no matter how much Yachi tries to get him to appreciate it. He likes floral smells, stuff like roses, summer breezes, you know—stuff that smells good.

Even after eight months of working in a coffee shop, he isn’t used to it.

Kageyama is… yelling at Hinata. About his form. Hinata doesn’t know why, because _ honestly, _he’s not looking to seriously train in volleyball and is actually learning from Kageyama (who offered to teach him the Monday after Valentine's) so he can hang out with him, but—

Kageyama is taking this pretty seriously. Hinata can’t help if he doesn’t know how to block, he has only played volleyball for the past hour. “How was I supposed to know where the ball would go?!” Hinata cries, and then complains about how Kageyama’s tosses are far too fast.

Kageyama groans and throws the ball in his hands on the other side of the court. Hinata is kind of sick of playing volleyball, and he lowkey wants to suggest they do something else… with their bodies… and mouths… but then again, he’s not even sure that Kageyama likes men in that way, and they’ve known each other for only two weeks—

“Eh?! Are you even paying attention, dumbass?” Kageyama yells, and then throws a perfect shot toward Hinata’s forehead. Hinata gets out of the way quick enough, but the ball _ whizzes _past his ear.

“Hey!” Hinata yells, picking up a ball on the floor (there are at least twenty) and yeeting it toward Kageyama. “Sorry I haven’t been playing volleyball for fifteen years, like some kind of asshole!” Kageyama doesn’t respond fast enough, so Hinata looks at him, and—oh wow. Hinata’s heart stutters. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Kageyama licks his lips slowly, which does something intense to Hinata’s heart, and says, “You’re fast.”

“Eh?!” Hinata cries. He puts his hands up in a fighting stance. “Are you trying to fight me?”

“What?” Kageyama yells, and then manages to actually _ thwack _Hinata in the head with a volleyball. “It was a compliment, you dumbass.”

Hinata sits on that statement for a moment. Kageyama… complimented him. Hinata then turns as red as a tomato. “Oh!” he says, and then stutters, “th-thanks, I guess.”

“You suck at everything else, though.”

Hinata yells again, out of Kageyama’s weird spell, and he says, “Hey!”

Kageyama ignores Hinata’s sporadic yelling, twirling a ball in his hands. He seems contemplative. “I was thinking,” he says, and then chokes on his words. “I—I used to do this type of set back in middle school and beginning of high school. No one could hit it since it was too fast. But,” he looks at Hinata, then, and something at the bottom of Hinata’s stomach _ quakes. _“But. Maybe you could hit it.”

“You’re assuming far too much of someone who has only played volleyball for the past hour.”

Kageyama, then, gets a look in his eye and says noncommittally. “You’re right. You couldn’t jump high enough, anyway.”

Hinata’s eyebrow twitches, and he thinks internally, _ this is a trap, this is a trap. _But Hinata’s always been prone to fall in traps, anyway, so he says, “Eh?! I could hit anything you toss to me!”

Kageyama laughs, but it isn’t a laugh that makes Hinata blush, it’s a laugh that’s _mocking _Hinata. Hinata’s knees shake. “You said you could jump on Saturday, didn’t you? Let me see you jump.”

“Give me a toss,” Hinata replies, lips quirking. His jump wasn’t put to good use all these years, and one-upping Kageyama is certainly a good use in Hinata’s humble opinion. “It better be decent,” Hinata tacks on, because he enjoys riling Kageyama up.

Kageyama’s nose flares, but he gives a toss to Hinata (who has primarily been working on defense, because Kageyama insists that’s the only thing Hinata can do with his height), who passes it back. It’s not a bad pass at all, not perfect, but it’s high enough that Kageyama can get under it.

Hinata remembers what he saw during the volleyball game and what Yamaguchi, Tanaka, and Kageyama told him. He doesn’t remember stuff easily, but he remembers this as if it were always there. Behind the three meter line, Hinata remembers. And then.

Right left rightleft. He uses the momentum of his arms to bring him higher and he _ extends, _looking for the ball Kageyama will set for him. There it is.

He misses it.

Hinata makes a flustered noise and drops back on the floor. The gymnasium floor makes a _ thud _sound and so does Hinata’s heart as he looks at Kageyama. He has an entirely unreadable facial expression, and Hinata gets in his fighting stance, when—

“You weren’t kidding,” Kageyama says, and he laughs again, not toward Hinata, but about Hinata. That would be the third, Hinata remembers. Badum. “You weren’t fucking kidding.”

“Well, I wouldn’t boast for nothing!”

“It’s entirely unfeasible. You can’t play volleyball. You’re too short. But you’re fast. You can jump,” Kageyama speaks in fragmented sentences to himself, and Hinata just nods his head in encouragement. He turns his head to look at Hinata, then, and he says, “What have you been doing your whole life with athleticism like this?”

Hinata doesn’t quite know if that was a compliment or an insult, so he says, “Was that a compliment or an insult?”

Kageyama laughs again. Badum. Two times in one night, Hinata’s luck must have been at an all time high. “It’s getting late,” Kageyama says, and Hinata notices the time. He’s not even tired, is the thing, he feels _ wired. _

Hinata doesn’t want the night to end, no matter how obnoxious Kageyama can be. He can see why Kageyama doesn’t make friends easily, but that just makes making friends with Kageyama all the more fun. So, he says before his brain can catch up, “Let’s go get coffee before.”

“It’s late,” Kageyama says, and then, “you don’t even like coffee.”

“I’m looking for excuses to hang out with you, stupid. Just accept it,” Hinata says honestly. Kageyama can’t pick up the clues Hinata is dropping, so at this point, it’s better to be entirely straightforward. When Kageyama gives him a face, Hinata says again, “Just accept it!”

“Ah. Okay. Fine. Where?”

They end up at Kohi, which slightly disgruntles Hinata because he doesn’t like going to work outside of work. But, whatever, Kageyama claims that Kohi has the best coffee in town, and Hinata feels a weird sense of pride even though he doesn't like coffee. Kageyama orders a decaf doppio, while Hinata orders a hot chocolate.

“Decaf? Seriously?” Hinata asks, finding a table in the back of the shop. “What’s the point of drinking coffee if it doesn’t give you energy?”

“You insisted on coffee,” Kageyama points out. “And I can’t be drinking coffee two hours before bedtime.”

“Your bedtime is ten?” Hinata laughs, and then, “You’re such a grandpa.”

Kageyama makes a constipated face and Hinata laughs. Kageyama sips on his decaf doppio absentmindedly, and then Hinata asks, “How do you stand the smell?”

“Eh?” Kageyama cries. And then, “It smells good. What are you talking about?”

“No!” Hinata deflects. “It smells and tastes like shit.”

“How do you know what shit tastes like?”

Hinata sticks out his tongue in lieu of responding.

“Maybe all the coffee you have tried is burnt.”

“There is no way every single coffee I’ve ever had is burnt.”

“Have you ever had Kohi coffee?”

Hinata shakes his head. He should put his employee discount to good use—but he’s really never used it except to buy his friends coffee. He works with coffee every single day, there is no point in _ drinking _it. “I’ve only ever had coffee my friends have given me. I don’t know where they get it.”

Kageyama, then, makes a disgusted face and shivers. “It’s probably from Kogeta coffee.” Hinata makes a face, too, because that’s their competition but it’s not really a competition, because Hinata’s heard their coffee tastes like ass. Kogeta literally means “burnt”, while Kohi means “coffee”, and it should sound redundant, because it is. Coffee Coffee House. “You know the place? The one on the other side of campus.”

Hinata nods his head. He has a few classes on that side, and he always gets distracted by the smell.

“They always burn their coffee. Kohi, though, never burns it. That’s why I love it here.”

Maybe that’s why Hinata can work in a coffee shop, then, because the coffee doesn’t smell as bad as it could. But, still. “Well, I wouldn’t really know. I don’t drink coffee,” Hinata says, and then emphasizes it with a sip of his hot chocolate. See, hot chocolate is _ good, _because it’s supposed to be sweet.

And then, Kageyama suggests something terrible. “Why don’t you try my doppio?”

Hinata squawks, because _ no. _For a variety of reasons, of course. He doesn’t want Kageyama to see his face when he gags, for one. And two, he doesn’t like coffee. Never has. Never will.

“No.”

“It’s decaf. You won’t be tweaking all night.”

“No!”

Kageyama gives him a look, and then sips at his doppio. A doppio is two shots of espresso with no milk, cream, or sugar, so the cup is fairly small and Hinata is plainly disgusted. He will stick to his hot chocolate, thanks. Before Hinata can say anything else, Kageyama’s eyes narrow, and then he says, “Weak.”

It seems, Hinata notices, Kageyama already knows that Hinata is easily riled up and loves competition. Which does something weird to Hinata’s heart, because it means Kageyama has noticed something outside of what Hinata has explicitly said, and—

“Give me your doppio, you bastard.” As it is, Aoki-san is working the counter (she is normally in the back taking a nap, doing paperwork, or doing old woman things) so that means the coffee is probably the best Kohi has to offer. She puts her heart and soul into every cup of coffee she makes, and Hinata wishes he had the dedication she does.

Kageyama hands Hinata his small espresso cup, and Hinata marvels at the size. It is tiny because it only needs to fit two shots of espresso. Hinata imagines taking it like a shot of alcohol, because that’s probably the only way he can suffer through this. He closes his eyes and counts to three. He knows Kageyama is looking at him with an amused expression, but he will have to deal with that later.

One. Two. Three. And back it goes down the hatch. Hinata’s ready to throw up all over Kageyama, but—

Oh.

It is definitely bitter, Hinata notices, which isn’t the _ best _taste, but somehow, it isn’t entirely as bad as Hinata remembers. Maybe it’s Kageyama’s aura, which Hinata would like to taste, but this comes in as a close second. Kageyama probably tastes like this decaf doppio, then. Bitter, almost sweet, and not entirely terrible.

Hinata swishes the doppio in his mouth, which he knows is no good for his teeth. He swallows it down. “It’s kind of nutty tasting.”

“Yeah,” Kageyama replies, stealing back the doppio and downing the rest in one swig. He smiles, after, and Hinata notices the little coffee mustache. “Nutty.”

Hinata decides that his new spot in Algebra is next to Kageyama. Mei seems disgruntled by this, but then she sits closer to Dobashi, so Hinata isn’t too worried. Kageyama is largely inconvenienced by this change of scenery, and so is the freshman Hinata kicked out of their seat. But, as it is, Hinata has more important matters at hand.

He likes hanging out with Kageyama. Outside of the context of school, and while the majority of their time together is spent arguing about coffee and volleyball, it is generally a good thing to argue about. Hinata has gotten better at passing, and he has landed a few hits, but not entirely. And, anyway, it’s not like he is looking to play volleyball seriously, but he can’t say that to Kageyama, who is serious all the time.

After sitting next to Kageyama a few times during lectures (and not paying attention), he notices how Kageyama smells. It’s entirely weird and intrusive, but Hinata can’t exactly help it, because Kageyama smells _ good._ Like, distractingly good. He’s not sure what type of cologne he wears, but it’s a soapy and nutty smell. It’s too weird of a combination to make sense, but nothing about Kageyama makes sense.

It’s not only that, though. It’s under that, too. His sweat smells heady, and while Hinata shouldn’t be paying attention to how someone’s sweat smells, it’s just—

Well, anyway. It also smells like he bathes in coffee every single night. Hinata wouldn’t be exactly surprised, as he has been bringing him coffee (black, no cream) every single Monday and Wednesday. At this point, his wallet should be empty, but Tanaka just winks mysteriously in Hinata’s general direction whenever he tries to pay. Aoki-san noticed, once, but she honestly doesn’t seem to mind, so there’s _ that. _

Kageyama takes the black coffee gratefully, and the seat next to him has been open for the past few weeks (seems like the freshman learned his lesson, and that lesson is never to impede Hinata’s desire to eat Kageyama alive). “How’re you paying for all of this?” Kageyama asks while slurping on his coffee. Normally, that would be gross. Well, it _ is _gross, but Hinata doesn’t mind because he is a hot, redheaded mess.

“I have my ways,” Hinata replies, and doesn’t mention that Tanaka is probably trying to matchmake him and Kageyama. And then, “Hey! Why haven’t you ever visited me during my shift at Kohi?”

Kageyama makes a face, and wipes at his coffee mustache. “I don’t want to spend anymore time with you than I have to.”

“You don’t have to do _ anything,” _ Hinata grumbles, kicking Kageyama in the shin. Kageyama is so unbelievably rude sometimes, Hinata absolutely _ loves _it. He’s a masochist like that, it seems. Kageyama really doesn’t have to do anything, like teach Hinata volleyball. In fact, Hinata doesn’t entirely want to do that in the first place, but Kageyama wants to, so he just suffers through it.

“It’s my turn, now!” Hinata says, getting out his Algebra textbook. He’s not even sure he’s looked at it once the entire semester. “I’ve done all the things you like—volleyball and coffee, how unoriginal—now it’s time for you to do something I like!”

Kageyama seems contemplative, sipping at his coffee. It has a small logo at the top that reads: _ Kohi Coffee, established 1989. Come by for coffee and a good time! _Hinata, in general, has had a good time at Kohi, so it’s not entirely a lie. And then he wonders how old Aoki-san is because she has been manning Kohi for thirty years, at this point.

“What do you even like to do?” Kageyama asks, and while that question seems rude (because it is), Kageyama says it, and Hinata knows that Kageyama doesn’t mean to come off that way.

Hinata likes to do a lot of things, for the record. Read (he’s dyslexic, so that is a challenge), go to parties, knit (he has got very nimble hands, but the callouses from practicing with Kageyama are no help), cloud watch, stargaze, sleep—of course, the list goes on and on, but Kageyama is still looking at him expectantly, so he says, “I like to golf!” because that’s the only thing he can think of, for some reason.

“Golf?” Kageyama asks, and then he laughs. That would be the fifth. Badum. “You don’t seem like a golfer.”

Hinata’s nose flares, but it’s entirely true, because Hinata doesn’t golf. Somehow, in Hinata’s weird, little twisted brain, Hinata knows he said golf because Kageyama plays a cool sport, so why can’t Hinata? But then Hinata remembers, he doesn’t know how to play golf, and he knows Kageyama will—

“Let’s go golfing, then. I’d like to see you.” Hinata’s heart stutters over the last part, but Hinata also knows that Kageyama doesn’t believe he plays golf. Which is a valid belief, because he doesn’t. And then, “Isn’t golf a sport for old, white men in America?”

“Well, that can’t be true, because I’m not old, white, or in America!”

“This Saturday, then,” Kageyama says. “I don’t have a practice game. Coach is sick.”

“This Saturday, then!” Hinata replies, and then, “You’re paying for yourself.”

“What a terrible date,” he counters back.

Hinata’s heart does a triple flip. Kageyama is entirely too much for Hinata to handle, physically and mentally, but Hinata likes that.

He likes Kageyama, too.

5) Bitter

Coffee has a weird, ashy taste. Coffee tastes like something you _ shouldn’t _drink, but people decided to drink it anyway, because people are weird. Hinata is pretty sure that coffee developed caffeine to ward off stuff from trying it, but—

Well, humans like to be unique. Hinata knows, because he is in Intro to Anthropology, and his professor has met Jane Goodall before, so that must mean his professor is right all the time. _ Jane Goodall! _Oh, well, anyway.

Maybe, Hinata thinks, looking down at his list, Kageyama was right. About all the coffee he’s ever had was burnt, and tastes like shit, because it’s from Kogeta (whose coffee, by the way, is overpriced and shitty). But still, Kageyama’s okay tasting doppio did little to move the rock in Hinata’s heart and head, so.

Having one okay tasting doppio means nothing. It was also decaf, which goes against the entire point of coffee! Hinata isn’t quite sure why he’s so hung up on coffee tasting bad, but it doesn’t entirely matter, because coffee _ does _taste bad.

Though, Kageyama is the embodiment of a bitter, black cup of coffee, and Hinata’s sure he tastes fucking amazing.

Which is such a weird thought to have, so he just leaves it alone.

Hinata spends the better part of Wednesday and Thursday searching wikihow on how to golf.

First, learn the basic rules. Okay. It’s pretty straightforward, and much like every other sport. Get the ball in a certain area, and you’re golden. Okay! He is pretty good at soccer, and he practiced a lot in middle school with Koji.

Unlike other sports, you’re supposed to get the lowest score. Hinata isn’t sure Kageyama will like this, since he very much enjoys having a lead on Hinata. Anyway, Kageyama can’t be good at _ everything, _so Hinata is almost certain he will be fine.

Hinata accidentally drops the fact that he’s going to golf on Saturday with Kageyama to Tanaka, and all Tanaka does is laugh. He laughs like he normally does, loud and without purpose. Hinata loves Tanaka. He loves all of his friends.

Yamaguchi says he has played golf before, but Hinata is wary to believe him, because Yamaguchi one time convinced Hinata that chocolate milk comes from brown cows, and Hinata will never live that down in his Biology class.

Oh, well. None of his friends play golf, so they can’t give him pointers. And that is okay, because Kageyama will have no idea what he is doing either, so it will work out in the end.

On Saturday, Kageyama shows up to Kohi coffee with a whole bag of clubs. He then says, “Where are your clubs?”

Hinata almost says, “You need clubs?”, but then realizes that any decent golf player should _ know _about clubs, so he instead says, “Oh. They are at my usual place.” His usual place, as it is, is the golf course they’re attending. And his golf clubs are ones that he will be renting. Behind Kageyama’s back, of course.

“Oh,” Kageyama says. “Are you a local there?”

“A local?” Hinata asks, and then he realizes he sounds stupid. “What a stupid question, of course I am a local. I’m pretty sure I’m in their weekly newspaper, or something.” And then, “What? Are those your dad’s golf clubs?”

“No,” Kageyama responds, biting his lip. “Mine. I play pretty regularly.”

Hinata’s eyes roll to the back of his skull. You’ve got to be fucking kidding him. Kageyama plays golf regularly enough that he owns his own set of golf clubs. What the fuck. Hinata really couldn’t have chosen a worse sport to lie about besides volleyball.

“Oh. Well.” Hinata coughs to hide his existential despair and tries to find a subtle way to throw himself into oncoming traffic.

Anyway. Kageyama knows how to drive. Hinata gives Kageyama directions toward the golf course (he is using Siri, but he’s hiding the phone so Kageyama doesn’t know). “My favorite golf course!” Hinata boasts. “Tama. All the _ good _players go here.”

“I know of Tama,” Kageyama responds. “I go there probably twice a month.” Hinata guffaws, but he hides it for the most part. He is fucking screwed out of his mind.

They arrive at Tama Golf Course, and while Kageyama is distracted trying to rent a golfing cart, Hinata runs to the renting counter for golf clubs. He doesn’t even pay attention to the outrageous number, and saunters back to Kageyama with his newly acquired golf clubs. “These are my babies!” Hinata says.

“It says rented on the bag,” Kageyama points out.

Huh. So it does. “I got the bag at a thrift shop!” Hinata replies hastily. He is making a fool of himself. “Saving the planet, and all. You know me.”

Kageyama narrows his eyes, but before he can say anything, one worker is handing Kageyama the keys to the golf cart. Kageyama puts his golf clubs in the back, motions for Hinata to do the same, and then crawls in the front seat. He drives Hinata, who is despairing in his mind, to the first put. “Show me how it’s done, golf-master.” Okay, so he’s definitely making fun of Hinata now.

Hinata huffs and gets out of the golf car, walking to the tee to put down his golf ball. He rented a whole bunch of them (a bucket full) so he won’t have to go through the trouble of finding them when he inevitably misses. “Watch and learn, Volleyyama,” Hinata says, which is one of his worst nicknames for Stupidyama. Hinata remembers what he read on wikihow and what the youtube videos said. Okay.

Legs shoulders width apart. Breathe in, breathe out. One. Two. Three. You’ve got this. Okay. Swing the club a few times to test it. Okay. One. Two. Three. Baaaaaaaaaaack… and _ swing! _

Hinata’s not sure where his coordination went when he met Kageyama, but at this point, it seems to be completely absent. Hinata throws the golf club so hard, he completely misses the ball, and the golf club swings out of his hands and twirls in the air before landing a good twenty feet ahead of him.

Kageyama is laughing. He’s laughing entirely too hard for someone that doesn’t normally laugh. (That would be the sixth, Hinata’s brain unhelpfully supplies). Kageyama laughs for so long and hard that Hinata just sits down on the grass and contemplates all of his life choices that have left him here, in this current position. He tries so hard to impress a cute boy, but the cute boy seems to be good at everything, entirely too hard to impress, and is _ laughing _at him.

“Stop laughing!” Hinata whines. Kageyama does not stop laughing, and he actually takes a moment to clutch his stomach.

After a moment, Kageyama wipes a tear from his eye and says, “Thank you. I haven’t had a laugh like that since my hamster died.”

Which is such an odd thing to say that Hinata starts laughing, too. Kageyama joins him after a moment and they laugh together about _ each other _to the point where it is getting difficult to breathe. Hinata then says, “I have never played an ounce of golf in my life.”

“I know,” Kageyama replies, sitting down next to Hinata on the grass. “I knew it the moment you said you play golf. There is no way in hell you have enough coordination to play golf. You can barely hit a volleyball.”

Hinata is offended by this statement, but he knows that Kageyama is just trying to be funny. And… honestly, it is funny. Kageyama is funny. This situation is funny. Hinata laughs some more, just because he can.

In the end, Kageyama knows how to play golf. He teaches Hinata how to play better than wikihow ever could.

They’re on the sixth hole when Kageyama acquires the confidence to put his arms around Hinata to show him how to hit the ball. He is incredibly tall, so much taller than Hinata, and he is just generally _ bigger. _Hinata loves it. “Like this, dumbass,” Kageyama says, but it’s not meant to hit as an insult. His arms wrap around Hinata, holding his wrists to help him steady his club.

Hinata can feel Kageyama’s breath by his ear. If Hinata wasn’t held up by Kageyama, he’d probably fall to his knees and do something embarrassing. Hinata, in general, is embarrassing, but around Kageyama—even more so.

After the ninth hole (they end early, because Hinata is so fucking bad at it), Hinata asks, “How are you so good at everything?”

Kageyama narrows his eyes and drinks the black coffee Tama provided. “I’m not.”

Simple. Simple but entirely untrue. “Are you dumb? You are on the best volleyball team in the nation as starting setter and you’re somehow good at golf, too.”

Kageyama then says, “I got 17% on our last Algebra quiz.”

Not the answer Hinata was looking for, but at least he knows Kageyama, too, has flaws. “Hey!” Hinata laughs. “Me too.”

“An orange bastard was distracting me.”

Hinata laughs again. “A bitter, tall, volleyball player was distracting me!”

Kageyama frowns, then. “I’m bitter?”

Hinata smiles, because the word bitter is a _ compliment _in this context. “Yeah! Like coffee. Like the decaf doppio you let me try. Bitter, but not in an entirely bad way. A little sweet, if you look hard enough.”

Kageyama turns a _ flaming _shade of red at Hinata’s shameless flirting. Hinata is always shameless, especially toward and about Kageyama.

Kageyama, well, isn’t entirely bitter. It’s the context of how you get to know him, of course. He’s a little mean, but everyone’s a little mean. Maybe Kageyama is more obvious about his mean parts. But, then again, Hinata likes the mean parts. He likes the funny parts, too, and the weird parts, and the volleyball parts, and all the parts.

6) Addicting

All his friends, his family even, are addicted to coffee. Literally addicted. Like, they cannot wake up without a cup of joe. They can’t talk to Hinata without a cup, who is too energetic too early in the morning.

Hinata doesn’t want to be addicted to anything. Anything at all. Caffeine, especially, because it embodies everything he hates.

Hinata looks over at Kageyama, who is taking a nap on the gym floor. Kageyama, in a weird and strange way, is the human embodiment of coffee. Everything Hinata doesn’t like in a person, in coffee, he inexplicably likes in Kageyama.

Spring vacation is spent with Kageyama, as every single thing seems to be spent with Kageyama.

It has been two months since that fateful day in Kohi where Hinata was covering for Tanaka. Hinata needs to remember to thank Tanaka for being hungover, because if he hadn’t—

Well, it can’t be entirely true that he and Kageyama wouldn’t have found each other. It feels like Hinata would have found Kageyama no matter what, no matter how weird or random. “D’you think you’ll ever get sick of me?” Hinata asks, lying on a patch of grass at Tama. They don’t even golf at Tama, really. The owner likes Hinata (not Kageyama—he’s too brash) enough that he gives them free food on Sundays. The owner, too, felt bad about how bad Hinata is at golfing, but that’s okay. Kageyama is a fine teacher when he wants to be.

Kageyama is wearing gym shorts (of course) and his Chuo volleyball sweatshirt. Hinata remembers that he and Kageyama will both be sophomores once spring vacation ends. “I’m already sick of you, dumbass,” Kageyama replies. The reply is too soft to take seriously.

Kageyama’s words can bite, but—well, Hinata wants to bite Kageyama, so.

It is still up in the air whether Kageyama likes men. Hinata is too afraid to ask Kageyama, because that implies that Hinata wants to know because he likes Kageyama. Which he does. He’s not sure, actually, but his magic 8-ball says “signs point to yes”.

Well, it’s not even that. It’s that Kageyama is touchy. He hadn’t ever really been the first few weeks of their… relationship… but after Tama, Kageyama takes every opportunity to shove Hinata, or touch his hair, or touch the small of his back… which sends Hinata’s stomach through his shoes.

Hinata is taking over Tanaka’s shift when he says, “Hey Hinata.” Hinata looks up in interest, but says nothing. He’s trying to clean the espresso machine. “You seem to spend a lot of time with Kageyama.”

“Huh,” Hinata nods, because he has. “Has Kageyama said anything?” because Kageyama has admitted he still goes to Kohi when Tanaka is working. Which doesn’t bother Hinata. Because he doesn’t want to serve Kageyama coffee. At all.

“No. He seems happy, though.” And then Tanaka says, “Happier than before.”

Many people have said that to Hinata. That Kageyama seems happier. Hinata is flattered. Maybe. He is, kind of. But Kageyama doesn’t seem different from the first time he met him. He’s still weird, bitter, awkward. Maybe it’s something Hinata can’t see, but then again, he cared enough to like Kageyama even if he wasn’t an ideal friend. So, maybe it seems like Kageyama is more happy because people have been paying attention.

“Oh,” Hinata replies. “That’s good.”

Kuroo broaches the subject a few days later. Hinata had gone to an official match (Chuo won) and snuck to the locker rooms to see Kageyama. Kageyama smiles (more often now, but still rare enough that it’s a special treat to Hinata) when he sees Hinata, and Kuroo says, “Well isn’t that a rare sight. Kageyama mostly looks like he is going to shit himself.”

The team erupts into laughter. Kageyama is the only second year playing as first-string, still. No matter Yamaguchi’s claims, his #11 never made it as a starting player, and the tall Russian one didn’t either. Oh, well. Kageyama tells Hinata (because Hinata likes volleyball, now) that the Russian kid (Lev, he says) will probably make it to first string after summer vacation.

“Do you feel any different?” Hinata asks. They are crammed in a corner of Kohi. Aoki-san made Hinata Tanzania and Hinata only made 1/4th of it full of heavy cream instead of his usual 1⁄2. He is getting used to the taste of coffee, and while Hinata from a few months ago wouldn’t recognize himself now (someone who likes a boy _ and _drinks coffee), it’s not so bad. It’s bitter, but maybe Hinata likes bitter.

Kageyama says, “Feel different how?”

“After we’ve been friends.”

“I’d hardly call you a friend,” Kageyama says over his doppio. Hinata sticks out his tongue, because at this point, he can easily tell when Kageyama is serious. And then, “Not really. You just…” Kageyama looks embarrassed, and then looks away from Hinata. His neck is a light pink. “You kind of clicked, I think. Like you are supposed to be here.”

Hinata nods, because he is too embarrassed to say anything back. It’s like coffee, Hinata thinks. Sweet if you look hard enough. And Kageyama is…

“You’re sweet, Kageyama,” Hinata says. Kageyama turns a distinct shade of red.

It’s then, after spring break, that Hinata notices he has spent no time with his other friends. Well, he actually doesn’t notice, but Yachi says—”We miss you!” Mei, of course, is not as tactful and says, “Stop kissing your stupid boyfriend and hang out with your friends.”

Well, “He’s not my boyfriend!” And then, of course, “And I’m not spending all of my time with him.”

Yachi gives him a look, which makes Hinata feels guilty and—well, they’re probably right. Hinata wants to spend every moment he has with Kageyama, because Kageyama feels intangible, like he’s destined for something far greater than Hinata. Hinata isn’t even sure why he’s in college. Meanwhile, Kageyama will definitely go pro. Maybe Hinata feels like Kageyama is fleeting, that Kageyama will want to drop Hinata for something better, and maybe he will.

“You spend every single day with him!” Dobashi says. They are having an intervention for Hinata in Hinata’s tiny dorm room space. An intervention for what, Hinata is unsure. “It’s like you’re an addict.”

Mei whispers under her breath, “An addict for his dick,” and literally _ everyone _ in the room hears it. Hinata glares in her direction, but she ignores it. Because _ no. _It is not like that. 

“Kageyama—he doesn’t like men in that way.”

Then the conversation shifts from scolding Hinata to comforting him. “What? How would you even know that? Did you ask him?” Yachi asks that question.

“What? No. How do you even go about asking that? Oi Kageyama, are you gay?”

Hinata waits for his friends to laugh, but Mei says, “Yes. That’s how you ask.”

Hinata frowns, because he’s not asking. “I’m not asking,” Hinata says, because he’s not. “That’s just a weird situation all around.”

Well, of course. Hinata ends up asking Kageyama, because Hinata likes to live a contradicting life. “Oi Kageyama,” Hinata says with as much courage as one can muster. “You gay?”

Okay, well. That came out wrong. Anything pertaining to Kageyama comes out wrong. Kageyama gives him a look, and then he says, “Yes. Of course. Were you born stupid or did it come with time?”

So. That answers that question. It still doesn’t answer whether Hinata likes boys, but he likes Kageyama (romantically) and Kageyama is a boy, so.

That seems to answer that.

When Hinata has to go away to Miyagi to visit his parents for Natsu’s (and his, he remembers absentmindedly—they really are only three days apart) birthday, he is excited. He is! He hasn’t seen Natsu in a while, his parents will probably send him off with a bunch of chocolate and food, and—

Oh. Kageyama isn’t coming. Which is a weird occurrence, because Hinata has probably spent every single day for the past four months with Kageyama. And that is entirely too much time to spend with a single person, but Kageyama is so different from the rest of his other friends. He is quiet, and mean, and brash, and pushy. And Hinata loves that. He loves having someone not tiptoe around his feelings, around him. It’s fresh and new, and even if it wasn’t fresh and new, maybe Hinata would just like it because it’s Kageyama.

Hinata asks Kageyama to come, because Hinata doesn’t seem like the only one who is entirely too distraught about being separated for one week. One week isn’t a lot, because there is calling, skyping, texting, but Hinata and Kageyama really don’t do those things. They just… they kind of show up, it seems, to each other’s dorms, to Kohi Coffee, to the volleyball gym, to volleyball games. They’re in sync, so it’s weird having something _ out _of sync that messes up Hinata’s carefully crafted schedule with Kageyama-filled holes (that sounds like a sexual innuendo—but if that were an option, Hinata wouldn’t mind).

“Can’t,” Kageyama responds, and Hinata tries to remember the last time Kageyama went on vacation. He can’t, because as long as he’s been friends with him, he hasn’t. “Training for the upcoming tournament, so I couldn’t have been able to see you very often, anyway.”

Hinata feels like he is slipping, slipping, slipping. On the train ride back to Miyagi (he packed a lot of food, because he likes to stress eat) he feels lost. Not because Kageyama isn’t there, because that is dependence and reliance. More like Kageyama is slipping past his fingertips, like he is already out of reach.

Kageyama will do something great, Hinata knows. And Kageyama will leave Hinata behind. Four months isn’t enough, Hinata thinks, but it is plenty.

After a quick nap, Hinata realizes he was being dramatic and lonely. He realizes this, of course, because Kageyama texted him

**12:21 [bakagayema]: How is the ride?**

**14:03 [Hinata]: boring :,( ive already run out of snacks**

**14:04 [bakageyama]: How on earth is that possible?**

Hinata takes a moment to respond, and then Kageyama texts again.

**14:06 [bakagaeyma]: Check the front pocket of your suotcase.**

**14:06 [bakageyama]: *suitcase**

Hinata makes a cooing noise and sets down his phone to check the front pocket. He squawks, and then that hot poker feeling comes again. Kageyama packed him a snack. Rice crackers, pocky sticks, and some candy.

Oh.

Hinata’s heart literally aches in his chest.

**14:08 [bakagayema]: Do you like it?**

**14:08 [Hinata]: BAKAGEYAMA!!!! i love it!!! youre actually nice for once!**

**14:09 [bakageyama]: I’m always nice. You just never notice.**

**14:09 [Hinata]: i always notice**

They talk through text a few minutes more, and Hinata knows the trip won’t be as bad as he had thought. The hot poker burrows itself in Hinata’s heart.

Hinata’s staring at his phone when his mom says, “Shouyou, look lively. It’s your favorite sister’s eleventh birthday.”

“It’s my only sister’s eleventh birthday.” His mom winks at him in response, but then she sits down next to him.

“What’s got you so glum, chum?” Hinata, maybe, might be an exact carbon copy of his mom in personality. He even likes boys, it seems, which he knows his mom does because she married his dad. “Is it a girl?”

Hinata makes a face, because—well, it's not a girl. It’s probably the exact opposite of a girl. Hinata’s mom notices the face, and she easily switches over to, “It’s a boy, then.”

“Yeah. A boy,” Hinata mutters, and then hides his face in his hands. Hinata isn’t quite sure what to do with himself anymore concerning Kageyama. Kageyama is just so… Kageyama. In everything he does.

“Do you like him?” his mom asks.

Hinata nods in his hands like an embarrassed child. He is embarrassed, and he _ is _acting like a child wherever Kageyama is concerned. “I like him a lot.” The sound muffles because of his fingers, but his mom hears him just fine.

“Does he like boys, too?”

Hinata nods again.

“Then what’s the problem?”

Hinata’s mom is straightforward. Like Hinata. Hinata loves his mom. “He’s—oh. I don’t know, mom. He is so _ him. _It’s hard to explain. I can’t say anything without him acting all—just everything he does makes my heart ache. He’s so dumb.”

“You like the dumb, though,” not a question.

Hinata smiles and nods, his neck the shade of red wine. There’s the hot poker again, burrowing inside of his heart. It hurts, almost, feeling something as intense as he does right now. Hinata’s not sure whether or not Kageyama would kick him for liking him in a more-than-a-friend way. He definitely does, though, even though he can’t entirely name why. Well, he can name why. He likes Kageyama in all the ways he doesn’t. Or, Kageyama is the antithesis of what Hinata thought his type would be—he means, Kageyama is literally a boy.

Kageyama, also, is the embodiment of coffee. He smells like it, too. Probably bathes it. Gurgles it down like it is water. He is hot (incredibly so), intense, jittery, bitter, he smells like coffee, and he is _ oh _so addicting. In every way, not even in a weird way.

Hinata and Kageyama are different in practically every way, but then again, they are similar in every single way, too.

“I like coffee, now,” Hinata mumbles in between his fingertips. This shouldn’t be such a thing to say, and for most people, it isn’t. It’s a sign of adulthood that you like _ adult _drinks—coffee is an adult drink. But the liking coffee part is a lot more for Hinata. “It’s… it’s not entirely bad, anymore. It’s not my favorite drink. But. Maybe it is. There are so many good things to coffee you wouldn’t notice if you weren’t paying attention.”

Hinata’s mom pats him on the head and brings him in for a small side-hug. “Oh, Shouyou. My sweet, lovesick boy.” Hinata doesn’t have the energy or capacity to even argue, because _ lovesick _is the most accurate description of Hinata when it’s pertaining to Kageyama. “The boy you like is the coffee?”

Oh. The entire analogy is so convoluted and messy in Hinata’s brain. He likes Kageyama for all the reasons he doesn’t like coffee, but those reasons he doesn’t like coffee just made him like coffee in the end. Coffee isn’t monumental to most people, as it is. It’s just something they drink for energy. But growing to like Kageyama made Hinata grow to like coffee. Maybe it’s the other way around.

Hinata nods instead of responding to his mom. His hands are shaking, but both him and his mom pretend not to notice. He will take a nap before Natsu’s party, and then he’ll spend the rest of the week with his family (he comes back the day before his birthday, he has college things to do). After that, he will take a train ride back to Chuo, and maybe he will tell Kageyama.

He will tell Kageyama.

7) Sleep

Number seven on his list, the last one, and probably the most important, in Hinata’s weird brain. Because he needs sleep, obviously, since everyone needs sleep. Coffee gives him the jitters, as it has been said, but he also can’t sleep. He tosses and turns all night, thinking about his mistakes, why he would drink coffee in the first place (from Kogeta, too), and just—

Well, it can’t be the coffee now. Because he hasn’t had a sip of coffee since he left Chuo (he has a headache, which is concerning in its own right) and he is _ still _up all night, tossing and turning. Actually, he knows the cause.

It’s Kageyama. (In a weird way, it’s because of coffee. Because Kageyama is coffee to Hinata, now.) He’s making Hinata all weird inside, he’s making Hinata toss and turn, he’s making Hinata think about him until the moment he falls asleep.

Logically, it isn’t Kageyama’s fault for riling up Hinata. He can’t control the effect he has, but—

Well, logic isn’t one of Hinata’s strong suits, isn’t it? That, and Algebra.

He will deal with the turmoil, then, when the time comes.

Hinata steps off the train without texting Kageyama, even though he promised him. He goes to Kohi to say hi to Tanaka, who is definitely trying to interpret Hinata’s weird mood, but even Hinata himself can’t interpret it, so.

After Kohi, he goes straight to his dorm, where it’s cold (perfect), alone (also perfect), and home. He takes off his shoes, sets his bag down, flops on his mattress and _ yells. _Into the pillow, of course, but he still yells. All of this pent up energy is making him anxious, especially because he’s probably imagined every possible scenario pertaining to Kageyama and when Hinata confesses. Most of them don’t go over well. Hinata is not one to overthink, but then again, he really wasn’t one to drink coffee or like weird boys, but everything changes quicker than he can imagine.

**16:29 [bakageyama]: Home?**

Hinata stares at his phone. He has to tell him sometime, or it is going to build up into a massive ball in his chest and it will just _ stew _like alcohol, and ferment and become something really gross and weird. Hinata doesn’t want a ball of alcohol in his chest. And, besides, he really has been holding onto this for four and a half months—

**16:30 [bakageyama]: Kohi?**

Hinata’s already out the door before he can send a reply text. He will do it at Kohi, then. Maybe Kageyama will have enough grace to not embarrass Hinata with a rejection in public. Maybe Kageyama won’t hit Hinata in the head if it’s public.

Hinata’s dorm is closer to Kohi than Kageyama’s, so it doesn’t make sense when he’s there first. Aoki-san is behind the counter, but when she sees Hinata, she goes to the backroom. Hinata actually really wanted a Tanzania blend, and he was going to try it without cream this time. It’s a work in progress, but Hinata is a work in progress, it seems.

Kageyama is sitting at their normal table (top right corner of the room), his head on his chin, looking at the door. Looking at Hinata. It shoots straight to Hinata’s heart and he feels a little woozy on his knees, like the idea of confessing his feelings to Kageyama is a terrible idea. It is a terrible idea.

Before Kageyama can even _ blink, _Hinata’s already saying something. Because if he doesn’t say it now, he will chicken out. “Bakageyama!” Hinata cries, stomping up to Kageyama’s seat and pointing an accusatory finger in his direction. Kageyama doesn’t appreciate the nickname, of course, but that’s what makes saying the nickname fun.

Hinata tries to think of something poetic, maybe how Kageyama reminds him of Tanzanian coffee, or how he is similar to dark chocolate. But all he says, “I like you!” And that doesn’t feel like enough, so, “Like, I like _ like _you! In a way I want to kiss you.” Hinata doesn’t supply the “and eat you alive”, but that feels implied.

Kageyama’s turning redder by the second. No one is in the coffee shop, which is suspicious. Aoki-san is still in the back. “Hinata!” Kageyama cries, hiding his face behind his hands. “You can’t just go around saying things like that!”

Hinata, too, is as red as his hair. Or orange, really. “Well, I did,” like it isn’t obvious. Like Hinata isn’t a born and bred idiot.

Kageyama takes a second to recollect himself after that catastrophe, but then he says. “You’ve ruined it. You fucking buffoon.”

“Don’t go calling me a buffoon.”

Kageyama sticks out his tongue (something he picked up from Hinata) and then he says, “I was going to confess to _ you _today! I—I’ve been planning it for literally a month! I was waiting for your birthday, and you fucking ruined it!”

Ah. Hinata feels like fainting on the spot, or becoming a nice, orange puddle. This feels strangely like a dream, or maybe he’s hallucinating, but it’s awfully real. Not awful. Weird. “I am going to die,” Hinata says, and it certainly doesn’t feel like an exaggeration at the moment. His heart is racing 100 miles an hour, his head spinning. Is this what it’s supposed to feel like when it’s mutual?

“Hinata,” Kageyama says, getting up from his seat. “Don’t faint, idiot. I won’t admit you to the hospital.”

Kageyama is a tsundere, it seems, because he goes to help Hinata sit down in one of the chairs, anyway. Hinata hides his face in Kageyama’s chest. He’s wearing his Chuo volleyball jacket. After a moment, Hinata takes a second to breathe, and he says, “I’ve never liked a boy before.”

“It’s not weird,” Kageyama promises, but it certainly feels weird. Maybe that has more to do with Kageyama being himself rather than Kageyama being a boy. Hinata takes another moment, remembering Kageyama’s smell. He smells like Kohi, volleyball, and a little like Hinata, too. The Hinata has faded off a little bit, though.

“I never said it was weird, stupid,” Hinata cries, and then lifts his head.

Kageyama is so pretty. It’s unbelievable how pretty he is, how sharp his eyes are, how sharp _ he _is. Kageyama could do anything he wanted, and Hinata has fallen for him more times than he would like to admit.

Every aspect of Kageyama, Hinata likes inexplicably. Even the bad parts. Even the weird parts. Even the brash parts. Even the coffee parts, because, well—Hinata likes coffee, now. And he likes volleyball. And he really likes Kageyama.

Hinata wishes he could say that out loud, but it feels like too much, so he keeps it in the back of his throat. Kageyama gets overwhelmed easily when it comes to the social stuff, so he will have to ease in—

That would be Kageyama’s lips on Hinata’s. Hinata’s mind blanks. He had honestly not expected himself to get this far.

His lips leave as soon as they touch, and then Kageyama is pulling away. Hinata makes a noise in the back of his throat (not something he’s entirely proud of) but Kageyama just tsks. Hinata wants to kiss Kageyama again. And again. Jesus fuck, he’s a mess.

“It’s your birthday. Stop. I got you something!” Kageyama turns around and pulls something from a bag. When he turns back, he’s holding a coffee mug.

A volleyball coffee mug.

It’s so Kageyama it hurts. “Oh my god, Kageyama,” Hinata cries, because Kageyama is the embodiment of… of whatever Hinata looks for in men, it seems. Because, “Oh my god, it’s perfect.”

Three things in one place, three things he had never thought he liked before.

Volleyball, for one. It wasn’t even on his radar before Kageyama.

Speaking of, Kageyama as the second. Kageyama, too, wasn’t on his radar before Kohi.

And coffee, then. Because coffee is an adult drink, and Hinata is an adult, an adult who has adult feelings toward Kageyama.

It’s a lot to process in one day.

The kissing is nice, Hinata learns. He has kissed before, of course, plenty of girls in high school and in between. But kissing a boy is different, kissing Kageyama is different in general. Kissing Kageyama is like trying to tame a wild horse, because he just likes to do whatever he wants. Hinata is along for the ride.

And the being boyfriends (it’s official after the first Instagram post, Hinata laments) part is nice, too. So, he can hold his hand in public. Most of the time, he won’t get weird stares. And, oh, the watching Kageyama play sweaty volleyball is nice, too.

Hinata joins the team for practice, most days. He’s not even part of the team officially (he will probably never be—it’s Chuo), but Kageyama convinces the coach to let Hinata watch, and then play.

There was a hole before. Before coffee, but then it’s not entirely the coffee aspect. Kageyama-shaped holes. It’s like Hinata had been waiting.

Waiting for a caffeine-addicted, coffee-smelling, sweaty volleyball player.

Well, now. Coffee reminds Hinata of chocolate. Not before. But now, it reminds Hinata of dark chocolate. Bitter, in the best way possible. Still sweet, sweet enough to notice if you’re looking. And it’s not so gross anymore. It’s an acquired taste, sure. But maybe it’s an acquired taste Hinata was looking for.

Many things remind Hinata of coffee, now. He hadn’t liked bitter before, but something had changed. Maybe he, himself changed.

**Author's Note:**

> someone made fanart for this fic!!! <3333 https://scribbly-gigs.tumblr.com/image/188227400528 check it out im dying all of the details are so cute


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